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Abbas stands firm over demand for end to settlements

Ian Black

THE Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, has underlined the stark reality of the stalemate in the Middle East peace process by again demanding a complete halt to the building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank before talks with Israel can resume.

Mr Abbas used the fifth anniversary of the death of Yasser Arafat, his predecessor, to warn that he would not return to negotiations unless the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, changed tack.

Mr Netanyahu has promised to exercise ''restraint'' on settlements but snubbed the US President, Barack Obama, by insisting that ''natural growth'' in existing settlements will continue.

Mr Abbas said that too must end, as must Israel's exclusion from any peace deal of East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their future capital.

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Speaking at Arafat's tomb in the Muqata compound in Ramallah, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Abbas was urged by thousands of cheering supporters of his Fatah movement not to make good on his threat to step down at the forthcoming Palestinian elections.

His announcement last week was widely interpreted as an attempt to exert pressure on Israel and the US to meet minimum Palestinian conditions for talks. If he does leave the political scene, then the peace process, which is already in severe crisis, would effectively be dead.

The United Nations envoy in the region, Robert Serry, called the threat a ''wake-up call''.

No other candidate for the Palestinian presidency shares Mr Abbas's single-minded commitment to talks with Israel.

Fatah supporters bussed in for Wednesday's memorial ceremony in Ramallah cheered at recordings of Arafat's speeches.

Nasser al-Qidwa, a Fatah leader and possible successor to Mr Abbas, accused Israel of having poisoned Arafat, whose death in Paris at the age of 75 after falling ill in the Muqata compound has never been fully explained.

Mr Netanyahu, meanwhile, left the US after holding brief and uncharacteristically low-profile talks with Mr Obama that apparently saw no movement towards renewing the negotiations. No statement was issued after the meeting but the Israeli leader said much of the discussion had focused on Iran.

''My goal is not negotiations for the sake of negotiations,'' he told a conference of American Jewish leaders. ''My goal is to achieve a permanent peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians - and soon. Let's get on with it, let's move.''

Mr Netanyahu went on to Paris to meet the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has expressed support for Mr Abbas.

The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, said he feared Israel no longer wanted an agreement with the Palestinians.

''What really hurts me, and this shocks us, is that before there used to be a great peace movement in Israel; there was a left that made itself heard and a real desire for peace,'' Mr Kouchner said.

''It seems to me, and I hope that I am completely wrong, that this desire has completely vanished, as though people no longer believe in it.''

Mr Kouchner plans to visit the Middle East to try to persuade Mr Abbas to seek re-election.